This paper has a proud history of promoting women’s voices, including mine. It has to continue in that vein.

Our government has passed the ;rst test. In issuing a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN) in response to the United Arab Emirates funded bid to buy the Telegraph titles and The Spectator magazine, culture secretary Lucy Frazer has ordered the media regulator to investigate.

The referral to Ofcom is clear: it will examine whether the controversial deal risks “the need for accurate presentation of news and free expression of opinion in newspapers”.

We can trust that they will come up with the right conclusions because it is obvious to all of us that a newspaper owned by a Gulf state will face questions surrounding freedom of expression. It doesn’t pass the sniff test because many believe – correctly in my view – that the UAE falls short of Western standards and values.

Ultimately, however, this is a political decision. It is Frazer’s job to either greenlight, impose restrictions on, or block the deal. And as a woman in politics she should recognise that a newspaper that promotes women as key columnists may struggle to operate under the guise of any authoritarian regime that implements sexist laws.

Read more: telegraph.co.uk

Photo: telegraph.co.uk